THE Department of Tourism (DOT) said it is the only agency that should be accrediting tourist buses, in light of apparent moves by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to reestablish the authority of local governments to accredit such transport services.
DOT Spokesman and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Communications and Special Projects Frederick M. Alegre told the BusinessMirror that they were apprised of plans by the DILG to issue a circular that would return the accreditation of tourist buses to the DILG. The plans were revealed in a recent meeting between DOT officials, led by Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo, and representatives of the tourism transport services sector.
“As you know, the DOT has been accrediting tourist buses as part of its mandate, with the LTFRB [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board] performing a ministerial function,” Alegre explained. DOT officials, he added, will be meeting with their counterparts in the DILG to clarify the matter.
The task of accrediting tourist buses or other transportation vehicles used for tourism purposes was transferred to the DOT with the devolution of powers by the DILG when new the Local Government Code was implemented.
Under DOT accreditation guidelines issued in 2015, “a tourist land transport operator shall only be allowed to apply for accreditation for the number of units covered by its franchise from the LTFRB.” The DOT will send a team to inspect said vehicles to check their “roadworthiness”.
Requirements also include the vehicles to be left-hand drive, properly air-conditioned, equipped with fire extinguishers and first-aid kits, clear imprint of company name and logo, have a public address, clean and comfortable seats, adequate storage space and legroom, as well as proper garage.
Once accredited, the vehicles have to display DOT-accreditation stickers on their windshields.
Another issue that tourism transport sector representatives brought up was the immediate need for a new or large cruise terminal in Manila. “The present docking facilities at the Manila Harbor are not large enough to accommodate the larger cruise ships,” Alegre noted.
He said a few local conglomerates with tourism interests have been mulling over the possibility of building a separate cruise-terminal facility in Manila, but no plans have been finalized or submitted to the government so far.
In the same meeting with Teo, aviation representatives also raised the need for more personnel to run immigration counters at certain peak hours of the day, according to Alegre. “While they said the queues at the immigration counters have eased somewhat, they said at certain hours, there are a deluge of arrivals from abroad, thus needing
more immigration staff,” he said.
The DOT spokesman said Teo will meet with Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II, whose office oversees the Bureau of Immigration, to explore any possible solutions to ease the long lines at the airport immigration counters.
Present in the meeting with Teo were representatives from Maynilad Tours and Educational Services Inc., the Board of Airline Representatives, Haft Transport Inc., Bel-Air Bus Charter Corp., Philippine Inter-island Shipping Association, Wallem Philippines and Sharp Port Services Inc.